Groza – Nadir

Written by on 12-01-2025 at 20:30.

Groza, which is supposed to mean something in the vein of “storm”, is a German melodic black metal band formed by band mastermind and all-rounder P.G. I’m not going to dwell on or relapse into a discussion of where this band got its makings, too much has been written about that in the past. It would be a Uada or Mgła clone but Groza is Groza and that’s it: a band with its own, hidden face(s). The band has managed to do quite a few live performances in recent years, which gave me the opportunity to see them live in Leiden once. It was a magnificent performance. That was one of the last gigs with bassist M.S. if I am remembering that correctly. In October 2023, this gentleman sadly passed away. It was a shock.

Groza has always been a band, in my eyes at least, that managed to mix aggression, anger and other emotions like sadness, fear and melancholy in a completely unique way. On this new record Nadir, album number three, it is not any different. The previous releases Unified In Void (2018), but especially The Redemptive End (2021) are powerful records. The four men launched Dysthymian Dreams as first single from the new album, a song that once again perfectly captures the sentiments mentioned above. Second single Daffodils appears as the closing track on the new album, featuring JJ from Karg and Harakiri For The Sky.

Soul: Inert starts off in a particularly sensitive and gloomy way, and this intro, with its introvert character, immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album. In post-black metal-like fashion, Asbest meanders towards the listener full of tears. However, it does not take long before the characteristic blastbeat and ditto screams are thrown at your feet. Specific to the melody lines used by these Germans is that they are zinging, pitched, cold and chilly but at the same time loaded with a lot of emotion, which brings me to an important conclusion. Even more so than on the band’s earlier work, this Nadir has turned out to be a very narrative album, and that’s a good thing.

The magnificent Dysthymian Dreams is a prime example of this. Full of aggression it throws you a zinging melody, the drums are particularly tight, the vocals supreme and yet the band has found some time in between to implement a bridge that gives you a moment to process all the exhilarated emotions. In almost identical fashion, Equal. Silent. Cold is laid down, except that in this track the middle section is just a little less imposing. Daffodils is a very impressive song particularly because of the addition of the guest vocals, but it is the penultimate track, Deluge, that appears to have a somewhat different character, still fitting perfectly on the album. This nine-minute epic has peaks and valleys in its build-up, malevolence in the form of blast parts being interspersed with rolling barrages of sadness and melancholy.

This Nadir by German melodic black metal band Groza can definitely be labelled a must-have. Rage and melancholy go hand in hand on this record, the songs stick together ingeniously and the production is particularly good. So why hesitate?

Score:

90/100

Label:

AOP, 2024

Tracklisting:

  1. Soul : Inert
  2. Asbest
  3. Dysthymian Dreams
  4. Equal.Silent.Cold
  5. Deluge
  6. Daffodils

Line-up:

  • P.G. – Vocals, bass
  • U.A. – Guitar, vocals
  • T.H.Z. – Drums
  • S.R. – Guitar

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